Birthday Girl

Here is a picture from my birthday dinner from Friday. We went to one of my new favorite Barcelona places Bar Lobo, we ate good food and drank too much sangria and I blow out a candle wishing for the best! ;) It feels so good to have met so many great people in such a short amount of time in Barcelona. I love my new life and I love my new friends! ;)

Here is a quick snap of the presents I've received:

A beautiful silk top from Caitlin, OPI Nail Polish, BonBons & Flowers! ;) But by far the best present was that they all came to celebrate with me! ;) I wish you were there...

28

Today is my birthday! ;) It´s time to reflect on the past one year and review all the things that have happened, the good and the bad, celebrate the successes and learn from the mistakes. And boy has it been a year... I don´t think there has ever been so many changes in my life or I don´t even think it´s even physically possible to manage more in one short year. 

I moved. Twice. First from Budapest to Berlin in February and than from Berlin to Barcelona in October. It´s a strange feeling when one of your long time dreams come true. I´ve been wanting to move to Barcelona since I was 10, long before I visited this beautiful city. I guess it is what love at first sight must be (without the actual sight ;), I just always knew that it was the place for me and there might be only one other city which has such an attraction to me (New York, and yet again I´ve never been :). I´m now living here since two whole months and I still can´t believe it! Every time I see a palm tree or go for a walk on the beach I have to fight my tears of joy. I made it, and I feel like I´m finally home!

I became a photographer. This is again a sentence I still have to wrap my head around (like the fact that I live in my dream city). Exactly one year ago today I gave myself the best birthday present I could ever give myself. I decided to take a leap of faith, quit my corporate day job and follow my dream. Being your own boss, learning on your own and establishing your own company in a foreign country is not always a walk in the park but I´ve never been a happier, more positive person than now. I welcome the challenges as I see them as opportunities for growth, I don´t know it all, but nothing worth having comes easy and I´m just so so lucky and fortunate to have found my passion, my profession and hopefully I can turn my baby company into a blossoming business and will be so busy shooting weddings that I´ll have to constantly apologize for noth updating G*D as often as I´d like! ;D That is my biggest birthday wish!

I´ve really poured my heart and soul into En Route and I´m s proud of all the work I´ve done. Next to all the amazing brides, families and friends I got to photograph I´m very happy with how my En Route blog and website have turned out. Now it´s time to get down to business!;)

I´ve travelled... a LOT. I have times when I feel like I´m not going anywhere, but than I look at G*D and realize that I have no clue what the hell I´m talking about. Next to photography travelling is my biggest passion and I´m fortunate to live in Europe (=cheap flights ;) and have a lot of wonderful friends all over to let me couch surf ;). In 2011 I´ve snowboarded in Italy, came to Barcelona twice before I moved here, rode a helicopter in Istanbul, had a wonderful long weekend in Greece visiting Athens and the magnificient island of Spetses, did a small daytrip to Hamburg,  spent two nice weeks roasting under the sun of Sardinia, visited old friends in Dublin, traveled to Budapest several times for work and family visits, shot a beautiful family and visited my bloggie bestie Vicky in Vienna, learned how to windsurf on the Canary Islands and frolicked around in Paris. Not bad!

One of the biggest changes have been though that I became single. It has been a very sad time but it gave me the opportunity to start focusing on myself. I´ve almost always been in serious relationships in my adult life (apart from a few months here and there) and quite honestly I don´t know myself as a single, independent person. I´ve always adjusted my life around my boyfriends and never really though about who I am, who I want to be and what I want to do with my life. Being single can be lonely sometimes, but I´m never been so sure that I just need to be alone for a while to focus on myself and focus on making my dreams come true.

I´ve moved together with 3 crazy artists. I´ve never though that I´d move together with other people again, as I had my own apartment ever since I was in college. Sharing a bathroom, a kitchen and a living room with 3 other messy artists can try me at times, but it teaches me an important lesson in letting things go and focusing on the important things. I love my new flatmates and I couldn´t have asked for a more inspiring, creative space in Barcelona, or better friends to hold my hand when I need it.

And talking about friends... I´m so happy that the blogging community has led me to meet some amazing ladies! Farah, Vicky, Haleigh & Emilie... I love you girls and I hope to see you soon again!

It has also been the year that I´ve fallen in love with a puppy. We never had pets and I´ve never considered myself as a very animal friendly person, but since Diego came into my life he has changed everything. He is the cutest, sweetest little furball and I wish I could spend more time with him (he lives with my sis in Hungary), but I´m really sure one day I´ll have my own yorkie... perhaps a cute girlfriend for Diego! (I´ll name her Lola! ;)

If you´re still reading this... thank you! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for following along with my journey, for making my days with your sweet comments and for making me believe in myself! 

And to all my real life friends and family.... I love you and I hope to see you more in my 29th year on Earth!

I wish I could celebrate with you all tonight and share a gigantic camera shaped cheesecake with you! ;) I´ll have a small dinner in one of my new favorite places in Barcelona with some wonderful new friends and than we´ll probably go out dancing! ;) 

I do not ask for or want any presents, but if you do wanna make my day I´d be super duper happy if you could share something with your friends about En Route, (http://enroutephotography.com/), a small lil tweet or facebook post would be the nicest present ever! ;) As you know I´m just starting out and my biggest wish is to make it successful and be able to photograph weddings all over the world! ;) If I´d have a cake and some candles to blow, that is what I´d ask for!

I have a lot of small and big goals for the next year, but let´s leave those for another post! ;)

Happy Birthday to me and a wonderful weekend to you all!

With much Love!